Cyclists Beat Airplane in a Race Across Los Angeles

Carmageddon may have come and gone without causing too much chaos on in car-driven city of Los Angeles, but that's not to say there were no winners resulting from the closing of a busy 10-mile stretch of freeway over the weekend. In response to one airline's offer of ridiculously low fares to fly over LA this weekend, a group of cyclists challenged an airplane to a race to see which vehicle actually offers the better deal. And, perhaps ironically, the best adjective to describe the outcome is to say the zero-emissions travelers handily 'smoked' their polluting competition.The challengers in the unique race were six bicyclists from the cycling organization Wolfpack Hustle going head to head with a blogger aboard a JetBlue flight to see who could make it from Burbank to Long Beach the quickest. Only somewhat surprisingly, the spry pedal-powered transport beat out the airplane, with more than enough time to spare. The team of cyclists managed to finish the 40 mile journey in just over an hour and a half.

A report from the Los Angeles Times has the details on the cyclists' resounding victory:

The cyclists and a blogger aboard the JetBlue flight left at 10:50 a.m. from the same intersection in North Hollywood -- with the blogger having to drive to the airport, arriving an hour before the 12:20 p.m. flight, then catching a ride to the aquarium in Long Beach, the finish line. The plane had just taken off when the cyclists arrived.

Offering such low a price for intercity airline tickets must have seemed like a great idea for JetBlue's marketing team -- a way to promote their trips in leu of easy road travel -- but in a surprising twist, bikes have proven the better mode of transport.